An ink dabber printing press of this type is known from European Patent Publication EP 0 474 262 B1. The ink dabber is a fastened on a rod, which can be moved back and forth in an approximately vertical direction. The rod is connected with a lever which is pivotably seated in the interior of the ink dabber printing press. This lever is coupled by means of two arms with a rotatable cam disk, which is driven by a motor or the like. Rotation of the cam disk causes pivoted movement of the lever, which in turn results in an up and down movement of the rod and thus of the ink dabber.
The movement of the ink dabber by means of the cam disk takes approximately the following course during the printing process. Initially, the ink dabber moves from an upper position downward into an ink pickup position, in which the ink dabber is placed on an advanced printing block which has the engraving. Thereafter the ink dabber is lifted off the printing block upward and the printing block is retracted. Now the ink dabber again moves downward into the printing position, i.e. into a position in which the ink lifted off the etching is transferred to the object to be printed. This printing position is exactly defined, in particular in the vertical direction, by the structural design of the ink dabber printing press. The object to be printed is arranged, for example with the aid of a holder or the like, and the ink dabber now is placed on it. By means of this the print image is transferred to the object to be printed and the ink dabber again moves upward into the position of rest. With this the printing process is terminated.
Customarily a plurality of like objects to be printed are sequentially brought to the ink dabber printing press with the aid of a conveyor belt or the like. In this case the objects are placed on holders of the same type, which are all adjusted with respect to the course of the movement of the ink dabber in such a way that the objects are in the correct printing position or at the printing height when the ink dabber is placed on them.
If different objects are now to be printed, which have a differing size or shape, in particular in the vertical direction, from the previously printed objects, this results in the new objects placed on the holders not being in the correct printing position anymore, i.e. they take up a different printing height. So that the print image can be transferred to the objects, it is necessary to adjust the new objects, in particular in the vertical direction, to the correct printing position. This is achieved in that all holders on which the new objects to be printed have been placed are freshly adjusted. Because of the multitude of the holders this represents a large outlay. It might even be necessary to employ new holders.